Chapter 1

4.To understand human resources management, we should first review what managers do.

Managers: People who are responsible for accomplishing the organization’s goals through directing the efforts of people
within an organization.

Organization: An entity that consists of people with formally assigned roles who work together to achieve organizational
goals.

Managers help organizations achieve its goals through performing the five basic functions of management:

Planning: Establishing goals and standards; developing rules and procedures; developing plans and forecasts.

Organizing: Giving each subordinate a specific task; establishing departments; delegating authority to subordinates;
establishing channels of authority and communication; coordinating the work of subordinates.

Staffing: Determining what types of people should be hired; recruiting prospective employees; selecting employees;
setting performance standards; compensating employees; evaluating performance; counseling employees; training and
developing employees.

Leading: Getting others to get the job done; maintaining morale; motivating subordinates.

Controlling: Setting standards such as sales quotas, quality standards, or production levels; checking to see how actual
performance compares with these standards; taking corrective action as needed.

6.The topics we’ll discuss should provide you with the concepts and techniques you’ll need to perform the “people” or
personnel aspects of management. These include…

• Conducting job analyses

• Planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates

• Selecting job candidates

• Orienting and training new employees

• Managing wages and salaries

7.Additional personnel aspects of management include…

• Providing incentives and benefits

• Appraising performance

• Communicating

• Training employees, and developing managers

• Building employee relations and engagement

8.LO1 cont.: “Why is knowing HR concepts and techniques important to any supervisor or managers?” First, let’s take a
look at “what not to do” (personnel mistakes) to understand what’s important.

9. An HR manager’s job is to ensure managers in the workplace avoid these costly mistakes:

• To have your employees not doing their best

• To hire the wrong person for the job

• To experience high turnover

 • To have your company in court due to your discriminatory actions

• To have your company cited for unsafe practices

• To let a lack of training undermine your department’s effectiveness

• To commit any unfair labor practices

So, together, both managers and HR managers can partner to ensure that the best organizational practices are achieved
and thus, avoid the mistakes that all companies want to avoid.

10. About 1/3 of large U.S. businesses surveyed, appointed non-HR managers to be their top human resources
executives.

Why? Some think these people may be better equipped to integrate the firm’s human resources activities with the
company’s strategic needs.

With about one half of people working in the U.S. for small firms, it is likely most of those people will work in some
human resource management capacity.

11. All managers are in a sense, human resources managers because they all get involved in activities such as:

Recruiting

Interviewing

Selecting

Training

How do duties of the HR manager and his/her staff relate to line managers’ human resources duties? Let’s answer this
by starting with a short definition of line versus staff authority.

12. Authority: The right to make decisions, to direct the work of others, and to give orders.

Line authority: Gives managers the right to issue orders to other managers or employees.

In practice, HR and line managers share responsibility for most human resource activities. For example, human resource
and line managers in about two-thirds of the firms in one survey shared responsibility for skills training.

Staff authority: Gives managers the right to advise other managers or employees.

13. The direct handling of people always has been an integral part of every line manager’s responsibility, from president
down to the first-line supervisor.

Thus, a line supervisor’s responsibilities for effective human resource management includes:

• Placing the right person in the right job

• Employee orientation

• Training employees for new jobs

• Improving job performance for each employee

• Gaining cooperation and developing smooth relationships

14. Additionally, these are more of a line managers’ HRM responsibilities:

• Interpreting the company’s policies & procedures

 • Controlling labor costs

• Developing the abilities of each person

• Creating and maintaining departmental morale

• Protecting employees’ health and physical conditions

In small organizations, line managers may carry out all of these personnel duties.

15. The human resource department provides many specialized assistance to organizations. Typical positions include:

Job Analysts: Collect and examine detailed information about job duties to prepare job descriptions.

Recruiters: Maintain contacts within the community and perhaps travel extensively to search for qualified job applicants.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Representatives/Affirmative Action Coordinators: Investigate and resolve EEO
grievances, examine organizational practices for potential violations, and compile and submit EEO reports.

Compensation Managers: Develop compensation plans and handle the employee benefits program.

Training Specialists: Plan, organize, and direct training activities.

Labor Relations Specialists: Advise management on all aspects of union-management relations.

16. One survey found that 44% of a large surveyed company’s planned to change their human resource management
organization structures, and planned to use technology to institute more shared services.

These shared services in a centralized HR unit will offer their services through Intranets and centralized call centers,
aiming to provide managers and employees with specialized support with the day-to-day HR activities.

Corporate HR teams: Assist top management in top-level issues such as developing the personnel aspects of the
company’s long-term strategic plan.

Embedded HR teams: Have HR generalists assigned to functional departments like sales and production. They provide
selection and other assistance the department needs.

Centers of expertise: Are basically specialized HR consulting firms within the company. For example, they may provide
advice about organizational change.

17. LO2 Describe with examples what trends are influencing human resources management.

Changes are occurring in the environment of human resources management that are requiring it to play a more central
role in organizations. These trends include:

• Workforce diversity

• Technological and Workforce Trends

• Globalization and Competition

• Economic Challenges

• Economic and Workforce projections

All of these trends impact the role that HR managers play within organizations. For example, these changes within the
environment and trends result in the following consequences for HRM:

• HR and Performance

• HR and Performance and Sustainability

 • HR and Employee Engagement

• HR and the Manager’s HR Philosophy

• HR and Human Resource Competencies

• HR and the Manager’s skills

• The HR Manager’s Competencies

• HR and Ethics

• HRCI Certification

18. The composition of the workforce will continue to change over the next few years; specifically, it will continue to
become more diverse with more women, minority group members, and older workers in the workforce.

The projections from 1990 to 2020 are displayed above.

Demographic trends are also making finding and hiring of employees more challenging. In the U.S., labor force growth is
not expected to keep pace with job growth, with an estimated shortfall of about 14 million college-educated workers by
2020. Talent management will be a challenge. Thus, the hiring of foreign workers for U.S. jobs will continue.

19. Technology change will continue to shift employment growth from some occupations to others, while continuing to
contribute to a rise in productivity.

Service Jobs: Today, two-thirds of the U.S. workforce is employed in producing and delivering services, not products. By
2020, service-providing industries are expected to account for 131 million of our 150 million (87%) wage and salary jobs
overall.

Human Capital: Because of the demographic and technological trends facing companies, “human capital” (workers’
knowledge, education, training, skills, and expertise) is growing in emphasis. Tomorrow’s employees will additionally
need to have innovative characteristics for jobs, such as those found at Google.

20. Globalization: Refers to the tendency of organizations to extend their sales, ownership, and manufacturing to new
markets abroad. Globalization of the world economy and other trends have triggered changes in how companies
organize, manage, and utilize their HR units.

Globalization has boomed for the past 50 years. For example, the total sum of U.S. imports and exports rose from $47
billion in 1960 to $562 billion in 1980, to about $4.7 trillion today.

Managing the “people” aspects of globalization is a big task for any company that expands abroad and for its

21. Although globalization and technology supported a growing global economy, the past few years were difficult
economically. As you can see, Gross National Product (GNP)—a measure of the U.S.’s total output—boomed between
2001 and 2007.

However, around 2007, the years of accumulating debt of banks continued until the 2008 economic recession. Banks
and other financial institutions owned trillions of dollars of worthless loans. The government stepped in to prevent their
collapse, but lending to businesses halted. Moreover, businesses and consumers stopped buying and the economy
plummeted.

From a human resources perspective, companies were not hiring and were laying off employees out of necessity. Thus,
major economic shifts will impact employees, organizations, and the communities in which they are supported.

22. Additionally, during the time of economic expansion of GNP from 2001 to 2007, home prices grew as much as 20%
per year. Unemployment at the time remained docile at about 4.7%, until the 2008 economic collapse in the banking
sector.
23. Today, economic trends are pointing upward.

Unemployment Rate: For example, the unemployment rate had fallen from a high of more than 10% a few years ago to
around 6% in 2014, and economic activity was also picking up.

Still, after the 2008 economic recession, companies were hesitant to spend money and expand factories and equipment.

Labor Force: Complicating all of this is the fact that the labor force in America is growing more slowly than expected,
which means employers cannot get enough workers to expand.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the labor force to grow at .5% per year through 2012 to 2022, compared with an
annual growth rate of .7% during the 2002-2012 decade.

Aging population: The slower labor force growth is mainly because the baby boomer generation is aging and the
population that wants to work, is declining.

Unbalanced labor force: Fewer people are looking for jobs.

Demand for workers is unbalanced.
Almost half of employed U.S. college graduates are in jobs that generally require less than a four-year college education.

Many jobs that are increasing over the next 10 years do not require postsecondary education for entry.

24. LO 3 Discuss at least five consequences today’s trends have for human resources management.

For much of the 20th century, “personnel” managers focused mostly on day-to-day activities of payroll, benefits, hiring,
and firing.

Today’s employers, however, face new challenges. With the environmental shifts and trends, employers expect HR
managers to be experts in various areas and to deal with the challenges and trends.

Human Resource Managers are responding:

HR & Performance: HR is involved with staffing, cost-effective employment, and strategic initiatives.

HR & Employee Engagement: Current research links engaged employees to performance.

HR & Performance Sustainability: The environment and social performance are also important.

HR & Strategy: HR is more involved today with an organization’s strategic initiatives.

HR & Manager’s HR Philosophy: A company’s philosophy permeates at every level of the organization.

Sustainability & Strategic HRM: HR policies should support an organization’s sustainable initiatives.

25. HR & HR Competencies: HR manager today must possess a multitude of competencies.

HR & Manager’s Skills: Skills such as recruiting, selecting, training, appraising, providing safe environments, and
incentivizing employees are just some of the skills needed.

The HRM Competencies: We’ll discuss the HRM Competencies in the next slide.

HR & Ethics: Ethical standards come from the top down, and HR managers help ensure ethical behavior is within the
organization’s culture.

HRCI Certification: This text will cover many areas in preparation of the HRCI certification.

26. The competencies that an HR manager must have include:

Strategic positioner: Have the breadth of business knowledge necessary to be able to help top management develop its
strategic plan.
Credible activists: Need the knowledge, expertise, and leadership abilities that make them credible (respected) and
active (takes a position).

Capability builders: Able to create a fulfilling work environment for employees and align the employees’ efforts with the
company’s goals.

Change champions: Able to initiate a broad company-wide change, and then put in place, the HR policies necessary to
sustain that change.

HR Innovators and Integrators: Able to identify new people-related solutions for improving the company and to optimize
human capital through workforce planning and analytics.

Technology proponents: Able to put in place new technology that helps the company recruit applicants via social media.

27. This book has two main aims: 1) to provide all future managers, not just HR managers, with practical human
resource skills needed to produce an engaged and high-performing workforce; and 2) to cover the HRCI’s “A Body of
Knowledge” in a relatively compact and economical 14-chapter soft cover format.
 2 section
5.The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that “no person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of the law.”
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (amended in 1972) was one of the first new laws Congress passed. This law made it
unlawful to discriminate in pay based on sex when jobs involve equal work—equivalent skills, effort, and
responsibility—and are performed under similar working conditions.
6. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is the section of the act that says an employer cannot discriminate on the basis of
race, color, religion, sex, or national origin with respect to employment. This act was amended by the 1972 Equal
Employment Opportunity Act. The act specifically states that it shall be unlawful employment practice for an employer:

1) To fail or refuse to hire or to discharge an individual or otherwise to discriminate against any individual
with respect to his/her compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such
individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
2) To limit, segregate, or classify his or her employees or applicants for employment.
Title VII established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This commission, empowered to
investigate job discrimination complaints and sue on behalf of complainants.
Under executive orders that U.S. presidents issued over the years, most employers who do business with the
U.S. government have an obligation beyond that imposed by Title VII to refrain from employment
discrimination. Executive Orders 11246 and 11375 don’t just ban discrimination; they require that contractors
take affirmative action to ensure equal employment opportunity. These orders also established the Office of
Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which is responsible for ensuring the compliance of federal
contracts.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), as amended, prohibits arbitrary age discrimination
and specifically protecting individuals over 40 years old. In the case O’Connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers
Corp., the U.S. Supreme Court held that employers can’t circumvent the ADEA by simply replacing employees
over 40 years of age with those who are “significantly younger” but also over 40.
The Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is an act requiring certain federal contractors to take affirmative
action for disabled persons. This act requires employers with federal contracts over $2,500 to take affirmative
action for the employment of disabled persons.
7. Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) is an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits sex
discrimination based on “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.” This act, passed in 1973, prohibits
discrimination in many employment practices such as hiring, promotion, discharge, or any other term or condition of
employment. Basically, the act says that if an employer offers its employees disability coverage, then pregnancy and
childbirth must be treated like any other disability and must be included in the plan as a covered condition.

The federal agencies charged with ensuring compliance with the discrimination laws and executive orders—
the EEOC, Civil Service Commission, Department of Labor, and Department of Justice—have adopted uniform
guidelines for employers.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 (CRA 1991) is an act that places burden of proof back on employers and permits
compensatory and punitive damages. This act rolled back the clock to where it stood before the decisions of
the 1980s and actually placed more responsibility on employers. For example, it placed the “burden of proof”
of discrimination on the employer rather than the complainant. The act also gave compensatory and punitive
damages to the complainant if the employer was found guilty of discrimination. This act brought about the
needed accountability on the employer.
8. The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is an act that requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for
disabled employees; it prohibits discrimination against disabled persons. The act was signed in 1990 and prohibits
employers with 15 or more workers from discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities with regard to
hiring, discharge, compensation, advancement, training, or other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.

Mental disabilities account for the greatest number of ADA claims.

Qualified individuals are those who, with or without a reasonable accommodation, can carry out the essential
functions of the job. The next slide will show examples of reasonable accommodations.
Reasonable accommodations mean that if the individual cannot perform the job as currently structured, the
employer must make a “reasonable accommodation” unless doing so would present an “undue hardship.”
Employers used to prevail in about 96% of federal appeals court ADA decisions. A U.S. Supreme Court decision
typifies why. However, the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) made it much easier for employees to
show that their disabilities are influencing one of their “major life activities,” such as reading and thinking.
Employers must therefore redouble their efforts to ensure they’re complying with the ADA.
9. In this slide, we see how to provide reasonable accommodations.
10. In this slide, we see guidelines regarding the ADA law. Let’s now review.
11. Under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (1994), employers are generally required,
among other things, to reinstate employees returning from military leave to positions comparable to those they had
before leaving.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) prohibits discrimination by health insurers and
employers based on people’s genetic information. It prohibits using genetic information in employment
decisions, prohibits the intentional acquisition of genetic information about applicants and employees, and
imposes strict confidentiality requirements.
In addition to federal laws, all states and many local governments prohibit employment discrimination. Many
cover employers not covered by federal legislation. State and local equal employment opportunity agencies
also play a role in equal employment compliance.
12. In the Griggs v. Duke Power Company, the Supreme Court case in which the plaintiff argued that his employer’s
requirement that coal handlers be high school graduates was unfairly discriminatory. In finding for the plaintiff, the
Court ruled that discrimination need not be overt to be illegal, that employment practices must be related to job
performance, and that the burden of proof is on the employer to show that hiring standards are job related.

Albemarle Paper Company v. Moody case is one in which the Supreme Court provided more details on how
employers could prove that tests or other screening tools relate to job performance. If an employer wants to
test candidates for a job, then the employer first should document the job’s duties and responsibilities clearly
and understand them. Additionally, the job’s performance standards should be clear and unambiguous. Clear
performance standards would show which employees are performing better than others.
13. Religious Discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of his or her religious beliefs. The law
protects not only people who belong to traditional organized religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam,
and Judaism, but also others who have sincerely held religious, ethical, or moral beliefs.
The EEOC has also held that discrimination against an individual because that person is transgender is
discrimination because of sex and therefore covered under Title VII. The Commission also found that sexual
orientation claims on sex-stereotyping also have a discrimination claim under Title VII.
14. In this slide, we see several of the major EEO laws. Let us now review.
15. Sexual harassment is harassment on the basis of sex that has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with a
person’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

Under EEOC guidelines, employers have an affirmative duty to maintain workplaces free of sexual harassment
and intimidation.
Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or
physical conduct of a sexual nature that takes place under any of the following conditions:
1) Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s
employment.
2) Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for employment
decisions affecting such individuals.
3) Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work
performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
16. There are three main ways someone can prove sexual harassment.
1) Quid pro quo. The most direct is to prove that rejecting a supervisor’s advances adversely affected
what the EEOC calls a “tangible employment action” such as hiring, firing, promotion, demotion,
and/or work assignment.
2) Hostile work environment caused by supervisors. One need not show that the harassment had tangible
consequences such as demotion. One example is that an employee felt like her emotional and
psychological ability was so affected that the only way to get relief was to quit her job.
3) Hostile environment caused by coworkers or nonemployees. The questionable behavior doesn’t have
to come from the person’s supervisor. For example, one court held that a mandatory sexually
provocative uniform led to lewd comments by customers.
When is the environment hostile? Hostile environments in sexual harassment situations generally means that
the intimidation, insults, and ridicule were sufficiently severe to alter the working conditions. Frequent and
severe are the key conditions. Additionally, the sense of physically threatening or humiliating are also
conditions as well as the perceived feelings of all of the above.
17. The U.S. Supreme Court used a case called Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v. Vinson to endorse broadly the EEOC’s
guidelines on sexual harassment.

Two other Supreme Court decisions then further clarified sexual harassment law. In the first, Burlington
Industries v. Ellerth, the employee accused her supervisor of quid pro quo harassment. Supervisor did not
carry out threat of demotion and instead promoted the female employee. In another case, Faragher v. City of
Boca Raton, the employee accused the employer of condoning a hostile work environment.
The Court’s written decision in the above cases have two implications for employers. First, quid pro quo cases
mean it is not necessary for an employee to suffer a tangible job action to win the case; just the threat may be
sufficient.
Second, the Court laid out an important defense against harassment suits. It said the employer must show
that it took prompt and “reasonable care” to prevent and promptly correct any sexual harassing behavior and
that the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of the employer’s policy.
We still see gender-based differences in the way men and women view various behaviors. In one study, 58% of
employees reported experiencing potentially harassment-type behaviors at work. About 25% found it
flattering and half viewed it as benign. But, men are the ones that found it more flattering and benign.
A second problem is that employees often won’t complain. We’ve seen this in the Armed Forces.
18. The employee who feels that harassment is taking place should take the following steps:
1. File a verbal contemporaneous complaint with the harasser and the harasser’s boss, stating that the
unwanted overtures should cease.
2. If the unwelcome conduct does not cease, file verbal and written reports to HR.
3. If the letters and appeals to the employer do not suffice, the accuser should turn to the EEOC.
19. Social media networks have become another venue in which employees can be harassed. Many companies are
having to redefine their social media policies to include this possibility and prevention of it.

Some trends are broadening the impact of equal employment laws, while others are forming new paths. In
terms of broadening the laws’ impact, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that the federal Defense of
Marriage Act’s exclusion of state-sanctioned, same-sex marriages was unconstitutional. Under ERISA, the law
states that “spouse” is anyone who is lawfully married under any state law.
Similarly, the U.S. Labor Department recently passed final regulations requiring that federal contractors adopt
quantifiable hiring goals for individuals with disabilities. Employers who don’t employ a minimum of 7%
disabled workers may face penalties, possibly losing their contracts.
However, other recent decisions may produce headway. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a
Michigan constitutional amendment that bans affirmative action in admissions to the state’s public
universities. One effect would seem to be to permit voters in individual states to eliminate affirmative action-
based admissions to their public universities.
The U.S. Supreme Court made it more difficult for someone to bring a retaliation claim against an employer; it
also more strictly defined “supervisor,” reducing the likelihood someone could show that an employer was
responsible for a “supervisor’s” harassing behavior.
20. LO2: Explain the basic defenses against discrimination allegations.
We will now look at the various defenses against discrimination.
21. Adverse Impact is the overall impact of employer practices that result in significantly higher percentages of
members of minorities and other protected groups being rejected for employment, placement, or promotion.

Discrimination law distinguishes between disparate treatment and disparate impact.

Disparate treatment means intentional discrimination. It “requires no more than a finding that women (or
protected minority groups)” were intentionally treated differently because they were members of a particular
race, religion, gender, or ethnic group.
Disparate impact means that “an employer engages in an employment practice or policy that has a greater
adverse impact (effect) on the members of a protected group under Title VII than on other employees,
regardless of intent.” A rule that says “employees must have college degrees to do a job exemplifies this.
Disparate impact claims do not require proof of discriminatory intent. Instead, the plaintiff must show that the
apparently neutral employment practice creates an adverse impact—a significant disparity—between the
proportion of minorities in the available labor pool and the proportion you hire.
Showing adverse impact therefore plays a central role in discrimination practice allegations. Employers may
not institute an employment practice that has an adverse impact on a particular class of people unless they
can show that the practice is job related and necessary. Under Title VII and CRA 1991, a person who believes
that 1) he/she was a victim of unintentional discrimination because of an employer’s practices need only 2)
establish a prima facie case of discrimination.
22. Disparate rejection rates are shown by comparing rejection rates for a minority group and another group. Federal
agencies use a 4/5ths rule to assess disparate rejection rates. A selection rate for any racial, ethnic, or sex group which is
less than the 4/5ths rule or 80% of the rate for the group with the highest rate will generally be regarded as evidence of
adverse impact, while a greater than 4/5ths rate will generally not be regarded as evidence of adverse impact.

Similarly, courts may use the standard deviation rule to confirm adverse impact. The standard deviation rule
refers to the difference between the numbers of minority candidates we would have expected to hire versus
those we actually hired. The difference should be less than two standard deviations.
A restricted policy means that an employer’s policies excluded members of a protected group such as women
and minorities.
Population comparisons approach 1) the percentage of minority/protected group and white workers in the
organization with 2) the percentage of the corresponding group in the labor market. The EEOC usually defines
labor market of the U.S. Census data for that Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Now let’s look at another way to determine if adverse impact exists. We’ll now look at the McDonnell-Douglas
Test.
23. Lawyers in disparate impact cases use the previous approaches to test whether an employer’s policies or actions
have the effect on unintentionally screening out disproportionate numbers of women and minorities. Lawyers use the
McDonnell-Douglas test for showing disparate treatment, rather than disparate impact. The U.S. Supreme Court set four
rules for applying the McDonnell-Douglas test:

1. That person belongs to a protected class

2. Candidate was qualified for job he/she sought
3. Despite qualifications, candidate was rejected
4. After rejection, position remained open and employer was actively recruiting for vacant position
24. Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQ) requirement that an employee be of a certain religion, sex, or national
origin where that is reasonably necessary to the organization’s normal operation. Specified by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
One defense is to claim that the employment practice is a bona fide occupational qualification for performing
the job. However, courts usually interpret the BFOQ exception narrowly.
Religion may be a BFOQ in religious organizations or societies that require employees to share their particular
religion. For example, religion may be a BFOQ when hiring persons to teach in a religious school.
Gender may be a BFOQ for positions like actor, model, and restroom attendant requiring physical
characteristics possessed by one sex.
A person’s country of national origin may be a BFOQ. For example, an employer who is running a Chinese
pavilion at a fair might claim that Chinese heritage is a BFOQ for persons to deal with the public.
25. Business necessity is justification for an otherwise discriminatory employment practice, provided there is an
overriding legitimate business purpose.

Business necessity is a defense created by the courts. It requires showing that there is an overriding business
purpose for the discriminatory practice and that the practice is therefore acceptable.
It is not easy to prove business necessity. The Supreme Court made it clear that business necessity does not
encompass such matters as avoiding an employer inconvenience, annoyance, or expense.
Many employers have used business necessity defense successfully. In an early case, Spurlock v. United
Airlines, a minority candidate sued United Airlines. He said that its requirements that pilot candidates have
500 flight hours and college degrees were unfairly discriminatory.
The courts agreed that the requirements did have an adverse impact on members of the person’s minority
group. But, it held that in light of the cost of the training program and the huge human and economic risks in
hiring unqualified candidates, the selection standards were a business necessity and were job related.
In general, when a job requires a small amount of skill and training, the courts closely scrutinize any pre-
employment standards or criteria that discriminate against minorities.
26. LO3: Give examples of what employers can and cannot legally do with respect to recruitment, selection, and
promotion and layoff practices.

Let’s take a look at these examples.

27. Potential discrimination practices may occur from any of the following:
Recruitment:
Word of Mouth cannot be relied upon in dissemination of information about job opportunities when your
workforce is all white, for example.
Misleading information is unlawful and means giving false or misleading information to members of any group
that fail to refuse to advise them of work opportunities.
Be careful with help wanted ads in stating things such as “help-wanted—male” or “help-wanted—female”;
advertising classifieds are violations of laws forbidding sex discrimination in employment.
Selection Standards should be cautious in not violating discrimination laws in areas such as educational
requirements; employment tests; preference to relatives; disclosing height, weight, and physical
characteristics; health questions on applications and in interviews; arrest records; and application forms.
28. LO4: Explain the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforcement process.
We’ll look now at the EEOC enforcement process and why it’s important for organizations and managers to
understand.
29. If someone does file a charge, the EEOC will get involved. There are several steps in the EEOC enforcement process.
1. The EEOC enforcement process begins with someone filing a charge. We will see in the next slide the
flowchart process of filing a charge. Under CRA 1991, the discrimination claim must be filed within 300
days or 180 days after the alleged incident took place. The filing must be in writing and under oath by
either the aggrieved person or by a member of the EEOC who has reasonable cause to believe that a
violation occurred.
2. After a charge is filed, the EEOC has 10 days to serve notice of the charge on the employer. Attorneys
advise against submitting lengthy statements in response to receiving a charge. Instead, provide a
concise explanation describing why the actions were lawful. If no reasonable cause is found, the EEOC
must dismiss the charge, in which case the person who filed the charge has 90 days to file a suit on
his/her own behalf.
3. The EEOC refers about 10% of its charges to a voluntary mediation mechanism. This is an informal
process in which a neutral third party assists the opposing parties to reach a voluntary, negotiated
resolution of a charge of discrimination. If the parties don’t reach an agreement, the EEOC processes
the charge through its usual mechanisms.
30. In this slide, we see a flow chart depicting the EEOC charge-filing process. Note that parties may settle at any time.
Let’s look at this process more closely.

31. In this slide, we see the questions to ask when an employer receives notice that EEOC has filed a bias claim. Let’s
look over these questions.

32. In this slide, we see the questions to ask when an employer receives notice that EEOC has filed a bias claim. Let’s
look over these questions.

33. LO5: List five strategies for successfully increasing diversity of the workforce.
Increasing diversity is an important strategy for organizations to implement, not only because it makes sense
from a business standpoint in mirroring the communities in which the organization serves, but also because in
so many ways, it’s the law to ensure fairness and non-discrimination.
34. Diversity is having a workforce comprising of two or more groups of employees with various racial, ethnic, gender,
cultural, national origin, handicap, age, and religious backgrounds.

Diversity can produce behavioral barriers that undermine work team collegiality and cooperation.
Understanding the underlying reasons for not having a diverse environment may be stemming from the
following behaviors of employees within the environment. These behaviors must be identified and eliminated
(employing those that are open to diverse work environments) and the work environment must be trained.
For example:
1) Stereotyping is a process in which someone ascribes specific behavioral traits to individuals based on
their apparent membership in a group.
2) Prejudice means bias toward prejudging someone based on that person’s traits.
 3) Discrimination is prejudice in action. This would also include gender-role stereotypes (tendency to
associate women with certain jobs).
4) Tokenism occurs when a company appoints a small group of women or minorities to high-profile
positions, rather than more aggressively seeking full representation for that group.
5) Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view members of other social groups less favorably than one’s own.
35.Typically, with diversity management, the effort starts at the top. One diversity expert says five activities are at the
heart of the typical companywide diversity management program. They are as follows:

• Provide strong leadership

• Assess the situation
• Provide diversity training & education
• Change culture and management systems
• Evaluate the diversity management program
36. Equal Employment Opportunity aims to ensure that anyone, regardless of race, color, disability, sex, religion,
national origin, or age, has an equal chance for a job based on his or her qualifications. Affirmative action goes well
beyond equal employment opportunity. It requires employers to make an extra effort to hire and promote those in a
protected group. Affirmative action thus requires taking actions to eliminate the present effects of pas discrimination. It
concerns employers to have written policies indicating that employers have EEO employment; appoint a top official to
direct the program; survey present minority and female employment to determine where AA is desirable; develop goals
and timetables; develop and implement specific recruitment, selection, training, and promotion; and to establish
internal audits.

Reverse discrimination means discrimination against nonminority applicants and employees. In one court
case, Bakke v. Regents of the University of California, in a 5 to 4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the
policy that made race the only factor in considering applications for a certain number of class openings and
thus allowed Bakke’s (white applicant) admission into UCA’s Davis Medical School. Bakke was followed by
many other cases.
 3 section
5. A strategic plan is the company’s plan for how it will match its internal strengths and weaknesses with its external
opportunities and threats in order to maintain a competitive position. Based on this plan, the human resource manager
formulates human resource policies and practices that aim to produce the employee competencies and skills the
company needs to achieve its strategic goals.

The basic management planning process consists of five steps: setting goals, making basic planning forecasts,
reviewing alternative courses of action, evaluating which options are best, and then choosing and
implementing your plan.
- Setting Goals
- Gathering data and forecasting
- Evaluating alternative course of action
- Choosing strategy
- Implanting your plan and strategy.
A plan is a device that shows the course of action for getting from where you are to the goal.
It is traditional to view the goals from the top of the firm down to the front-line employees as a chain or
hierarchy of goals.
Policies and procedures provide the day-to-day guidance employees need to do their jobs in a manner that is
consistent with the company’s plans and goals.
Policies set broad guidelines delineating how employees should proceed.
Procedures spell out what to do if a specific situation arises.
6. In this slide, we have a sample hierarchy of goals diagram for a company. Let’s view this and discuss.
7. A strategy is a course of action the company can pursue to achieve its strategic aims.
Strategic management is the process of identifying and executing the organization’s strategic plan, by
matching the company’s capabilities with the demands of its environment.
The strategic management involves seven steps as shown on the next slide.
A vision statement is a general statement of the firm’s intended direction that shows, in broad terms, “what
we want to become.”
A mission statement summarizes the answer to the question, “what business are we in?”
8. The Strategic Management Process involves seven steps. They are as follows:
1. Asking “where are we now?”
2. Evaluating the firm’s internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT
analysis)
3. Formulating a new business direction
4. Translating the mission into strategic goals
5. Formulating strategies or courses of action
6. Implementing the plan
7. Evaluating the strategic plan by looking at performance
9. As a part of the SWOT analysis, competitive intelligence and general information concerning the firm’s industry
should be gathered by what is called “environmental scanning.” Here is a sample worksheet for answering key items in
conducting the SWOT analysis through environmental scanning.

10. The SWOT analysis matrix involves these items to investigate under each SWOT area.
11. A corporate-level strategy is the type of strategy that identifies the portfolio of businesses that, in total, comprise
the company and the ways in which these businesses relate to each other.

For example:
A concentration (single-business) corporate strategy offers one product/service in one market.
A diversification corporate strategy means the firm will expand by adding new product lines.
A vertical integration strategy means the firm expands by producing its own raw materials (for example).
A consolidation strategy is when the company reduces its size.
A geographic expansion means the company expands locations abroad.
A competitive strategy is a strategy that identifies how to build and strengthen the business’s long-term
competitive position in the marketplace.
The standard competitive strategies include: 1) Cost leadership (becoming the low-cost leader), or 2)
Differentiation (firm is unique in the industry), or 3) Focus ( where firm has carved out a niche and serves a
smaller target-market).
A competitive advantage is any factor(s) that allow an organization to differentiate its product or service from
those of its competitors to increase market share.
A functional strategy is a department’s functional strategy which identifies what the department must do in
terms of specific departmental policies and practices to help the business accomplish its competitive goals.
12. In this slide, we have pictured the graphic of the types of strategy at each company level.
13. Top executives rarely formulate strategic plans without the input of lower-level managers.
Managers must devise a plan in conjunction with corporate-wide plans. Managers also must understand their
own firm’s competitive pressures, vendor capabilities, product and industry trends, and employee capabilities
while devising plans.
Competitive intelligence (information) must be obtained regarding things like the competitor’s incentive plans,
employee opinion surveys that elicit information regarding customer complaints and information about
pending legislation such as labor laws. Human resource personnel generally provide a lot of this information.
In devising the firm’s overall strategic plan, managers must involve themselves in frequent meetings and
discussion among and between top and lower-level managers.
Finally, understanding the firm’s strengths and weaknesses is crucial for managers. Additionally, managers
must understand their own department’s strengths and weaknesses. Knowing this type of information is also
helpful when firms are involved in mergers and acquisitions. Combining two or more companies, managers
need to know who does what best.
14. LO2: Define strategic human resource management and give an example of strategic human resource management
in practice.

Managers formulate corporate strategies, and then competitive strategies for each of their businesses. We will
now look at the human resources side and their part in the competitive strategies of the firm.
15. Strategic human resources management means formulating and executing human resource policies and practices
that produce the employee competencies and behaviors the company needs to achieve its strategic aims. The aim of HR
should be to produce the employee skills and behaviors that the company needs to achieve its strategic goals.

The next slide shows a graphic depiction of the HR Strategy Model.

16. This slide depicts a graphic model of the Human Resources Strategy.
First, management formulates the strategic plans and goals. In turn, executing these plans and achieving these
goals depends on having the right mix of employee competencies and behaviors. Finally, to produce these
required employee competencies and behaviors, the human resource manager must put in place the right mix
of recruitment, selection, training, and other HR strategies, policies, and practices.
17. In this slide, we see an example of a Strategy Map. This is actually a strategy map for Southwest Airlines.
A strategy map is a strategic planning tool that shows the “big picture’ of how each department’s performance
contributes to achieving the company’s overall strategic goals.
18. The HR scorecard is a process for assigning financial and nonfinancial goals or metrics to the human resource
management-related chain of activities required for achieving the company’s strategic aims and for monitoring results.
The scorecard actually refers to a process of assigning financial and nonfinancial goals or metrics.

Metrics can include such things as airplane turnaround time, percent of on-time flights, and ground crew
productivity.
Managers use special scorecard software to facilitate scoring. The scorecard software helps managers quantify
the relationships between 1) HR activities, 2) the resulting employee behaviors, and 3) the resulting firm-wide
strategic outcomes and performance.
A digital dashboard presents the manager with desk-top graphs and charts, and a computerized picture of
where the company stands on all those metrics from the HR scorecard process.
19. In this slide, we see the display of the three important strategic human resource tools used as a part of strategic
planning.

20. LO3: Explain with examples why metrics are important for managing human resources.
Being able to measure what the company is doing is an integral part of human resources strategy process.
Human resource managers use many such measures or metrics. In the next slide, we’ll see examples (in detail)
of metrics used in the various areas of the organization.
Benchmarking is measuring how one is doing against the best in that area. For example, a high-end retail
clothing company might compare their data against the industry’s best company in order to effectively plan
their corporate strategy.
Benchmarking provides only one perspective on how the company’s human resource management system is
performing. Strategy-based metrics focus on measuring the activities that contribute to achieving a company’s
strategic aims. This might mean something like the strategic HR metrics of 100% employee testing, 80% guest
returns, and 40% incentive pay as a percent of total salaries.
Workforce analytics means using special software applications to analyze human resources data and to draw
conclusions from it.
Data mining shifts through huge amounts of employee data to identify correlations that employers then use to
improve their employee selection and other practices. Data mining is the “set of activities used to find new,
hidden, or unexpected patterns in data.”
21. In this slide, we see an example of customized human capital benchmarking metrics used in a report. This
information was obtained from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) website.

22. In this slide, we see an example of customized human capital benchmarking metrics used in a report. This
information was obtained from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) website.
23. Talent analytics can produce striking profitable results. For example, Best Buy used talent analytics to determine that
a .1% increase in employee engagement led to more than a $100,000 rise in the store’s annual operating income.

Employers use talent analytics to answer several types of questions:

• Human capital facts (key indicators of an organization’s overall health)
• Analytical HR (answers which departments, units, or individuals need attention)
• Human capital investment analysis (answers which actions have the greatest impact on business)
• Workforce forecasts (predicts future headcount)
• Talent value model (looks at why employees choose to stay or leave the company)
• Talent supply chain (analytics that predict daily store volume)
24. HR audits are an analysis by which an organization measures where it currently stands and determines what it has to
accomplish to improve its HR function.

In this slide, we see an HR audit checklist of items. Let’s take a look at typical things audited.
26. Evidence-based human resource management means using data, facts, analytics, scientific rigor, critical evaluation,
and critically evaluated research case studies to support human resource management proposals, decisions, practices,
and conclusions.

In a way, management must think like a scientist and be objective when looking at the current status of the
organization. This is also like being realistic as to what the data values reveal.
The manager must also experiment as a scientist would. This means that the manager must implement a plan
on a much smaller scale (with a few employees) to make sure the plan will work, prior to the plan being
implemented company-wide.
Taking these steps will help the manager predict outcomes. Metrics help with future predictions.
For managers in companies such as Sears and Home Depot, the point of being “scientific” is to make better
decisions by forcing the managers to gather the facts. For example, “Is our employee sales incentive plan
really boosting appliance sales?”
27. LO4: Answer the question “What are high-performance work systems?” and give examples of how they differ from
non-high performance ones.

High-performance work systems are a set of human resource management policies and practices that
promote organizational effectiveness.
High Performance work practices involve looking at best practices of high-performance work systems (sort of
like benchmarking).
The chosen “best practices” high-performance work system has paid their employees more, trained their
employees more, and used more sophisticated recruitment and hiring practices than others, and uses more
self-managed work teams.
Human resource metrics are the quantitative gauge of a human resource management activity such as
employee turnover, hours of training per employee, or qualified applicants per position.
28. In this slide, we see a juxtaposition of comparison between high-performance company practices and low-
performance company practices in the areas of recruitment, selection, training, appraisal, pay, and other practices.

29. In this slide, we see a juxtaposition of comparison between high-performance company practices and low-
performance company practices in the areas of recruitment, selection, training, appraisal, pay, and other practices.

30. LO5: Answer the question (with examples) “Why is employee engagement important?”
Employee engagement is important because it drives performance and productivity. In one Gallup survey,
employees engaged have an 83% chance of performing above the company median; those with the lowest
employee engagement have only a 17% chance.
The problem is that, depending on the study, only about 21 to 30% of employees nationally are engaged.
Engaged employees means employees “who work with passion and feel a profound connection to their
company.”
Managers can improve employee engagement by taking concrete steps to do so. They can have their
employees 1) understand how their departments contribute to company success; 2) see how their own efforts
contribute towards company goals; 3) get a sense of accomplishment from working at the firm.
Employees who are engaged are involved.
Monitoring employee engagement does not have to be difficult. Organizations can find out why employees
stay with the company and leave the company. They can also involve their employees more in the decision
making process and with the communication of company goals.
31. In this slide, we see employer actions that make employees feel more engaged. This data was retrieved from the
2003 Towers Perrin Talent Report.

32. LO6: Describe how you would execute a program to improve employee engagement.
Kia Motors today is a successful automobile manufacturer employing tens of thousands of employees around
the world. They are also famous for their 10-year warranty and for the quality and value of their products.
However, Kia once experienced bankruptcy and was purchased by Hyundai, it has since turned its program
around by focusing on improving operating performance.
After several years of improving operating conditions under Hyundai, Kia ran into problems as credit
tightened and consumers cut spending around 2006. Kia’s CEO then laid out a strategy for dealing with intense
global competition and turnover issues. At the time, direct cost to the company from the 31% turnover alone
was estimated at about 600,000 British pounds (about $1 million U.S. dollars).
We’ll now discuss the new HRM strategy of Kia.
33. Kia’s newly appointed head of HR, Gary Tomlinson, believed that low employee engagement was the likely culprit of
poor performance and turnover. He identified poor communication among employees and the poor morale that
resulted. Tomlinson then implemented an employee engagement strategy through new HR policies and practices which
changed poor performance and reduced turnover. Employee turnover fell from 31% to 15% in 2007 and to 5% in 2008.
By the end of 2009, it was below 2%.

34. In this chapter, we have covered and discussed the following areas:
1. Strategic planning is important to all managers
2. Each function or department needs its own functional strategy
 3. The manager will want to gather and analyze data prior to making decisions
4. High-performance work system is a set of HRM policies
5. Employee engagement is important
6. HR Strategy involves six steps

Section (4)
5. The heart of human resources management is recruitment, selection, training, appraisal, career planning,
and compensation. Managers traditionally view these activities as a series of steps listed on this slide.
Many employers use talent management software systems to coordinate their talent related activities.
6. LO2: Discuss the process of job analysis, including why it is important.
Organizations consist of positions that have to be staffed. The organizational chart shows the title of each
supervisor’s position and who is accountable to whom, and who has authority for each area, and finally, who
is expected to communicate with whom.
A job analysis is the procedure for determining the duties and skill requirements of a job and the kind of
person who should be hired for it.
The job analysis produces information for writing job descriptions.
Job descriptions are a list of a job’s duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, working conditions, and
supervisory responsibilities.
Job specifications are a list of a job’s “human requirements,” that is, the requisite education, skills, personality,
and so on—another product of job analysis.
The supervisor or human resources specialist will collect one or more of the following types of information:
1) Work activities
2) Human behaviors (lifting weights, walking long distances, etc.)
3) Machines, tools, equipment, and work aids
4) Performance standards
5) Job context (work schedule, work conditions, incentives, etc.)
6) Human requirements (aptitudes, personality, interests, etc.)
7. In this slide, we see a visual of the uses of Job Analysis information. As summarized in the graph, the information
produced by the job analysis is the basis for several interrelated HR activities that managers engage in almost every day.
Specifically:
Recruitment and Selection: The job analysis produces information about what duties the job entails and what
human characteristics are required to perform these activities, and thus, helps managers decide what sort of
people to recruit and hire.
EEO Compliance: For example, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers should know
each job’s essential job functions—which in turn requires a job analysis.
Training: The job description lists the job’s specific duties and requisite skills—thus, pinpointing what training
the job requires.
Performance Appraisal: A performance appraisal compares each employee’s actual performance with his or
her duties and performance standards. Managers use job analysis to learn what these duties and standards
are.
Compensation: Compensation levels usually depend on the job’s required skill and education level, safety
hazards, degree of responsibility, and so on—all factors you assess through job analysis.
8. A typical job analysis involves these steps listed on this slide:
1. Identify the use of the information and how to collect it.
2. Review relevant background information about the job.
3. Select representative positions to focus on.
4. Analyze the job.
5. Verify information with worker and supervisors.
6. Develop a job description and job specification.
9. A workflow analysis is a detailed study of the flow of work from job to job in a work process.
A process chart (as in this slide) is a workflow chart that shows the flow of inputs and outputs from a particular
job.
To answer questions like the below, a workflow analysis should be done:
“Does how this job relates to other jobs make sense?”
“Should this job even exist?”
“Should we redesign how this job is done?”
10. Business Process Reengineering is redesigning business processes, usually by combining steps, so that small
multifunction process teams using information technology do the jobs formerly done by a sequence of departments.

The basic reengineering process involves the steps listed in this slide.
11. Business process reengineering can result in the following changes to an existing job position or the creation of a
new job position.

1. Job enlargement means assigning workers additional same-level activities. This means more duties
within the job position that may contribute towards an employee feeling a sense of pride that his/her
responsibilities have increased.
 2. Job rotation is systematically moving workers from one job to another. This job redesign strategy is
helpful in adding to or building on to employee competencies, if an organization requires broader
knowledge of the organization skills.
3. Job enrichment is redesigning jobs in a way that increases the opportunities for the worker to
experience feelings of responsibility, achievement, growth, and recognition.
12. LO3: Explain how to use at least three methods of collecting job analysis information, including interviews,
questionnaires, and observations.

There are various methods for actually collecting job information, and one should use those that best fit the
organization’s purpose. Actually collecting the job analysis information is straightforward. We’ll look at some
of these methods of collecting job analysis information.
13. One method of collecting job analysis information is by conducting interviews within the workplace to obtain what
activities are involved in a job position. Managers may conduct individual interviews with each employee, group
interviews with groups of employees who have the same job, and/or supervisor interviews with one or more supervisors
who know the job.

The worker should understand the reason for the interview. There’s a tendency for workers to view such
interviews as “efficiency evaluations” and to hesitate to describe their jobs accurately.
This slide lists some of the typical questions asked in this type of job analysis interview.
Structured interviews are when managers use structured guides with the same types of questions, and job
analysts who collect information can observe the work by using the questionnaires.
15. Other methods for collecting job analysis information include questionnaires, observations, and participant
diary/logs.

Having employees fill out questionnaires to describe their job duties and responsibilities is a great way to
obtain information from those that actually do the job. Some questionnaires are structured checklists while
other questionnaires seek to obtain qualitative data with questions such as “describe the major duties of your
job.”
Direct observations are especially useful when jobs consist mainly of observable physical activities—assembly-
line workers and accounting clerks are examples. However, observations are not appropriate when the job
requires a lot of focus and mental activity by the employee working the job. Managers often use direct
observations and interviews together.
Participant diary and logs are another excellent way to obtain first-hand information from employees who are
actually participating in the job. This method are daily listings made by workers of every activity in which they
engage in, along with the time each activity takes.
Electronic Job analysis methods are becoming more increasingly used by employers and are electronic or
Web-based job analysis methods. The job analyst may use the Web to review existing information about a job
and then may send a questionnaire through the Web to job experts in remote locations. This analysis may also
include a Skype session to follow up on finalizing knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics required
by the job.
16. Another method for collecting job analysis information includes a Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ).
In this slide, we see an example of a portion of a completed page from the Position Analysis Questionnaire.
A PAQ is a questionnaire used to collect quantifiable data concerning the duties and responsibilities of various
jobs. Sometimes collecting quantifying data is more appropriate than qualitative methods such as interviews
and questionnaires in which discussions are captured. A PAQ score can be added up and shows the rating on
each of the job’s activities. The PAQ’s strength is in assigning jobs to job classes to clarify for pay purposes.
17. LO4: Explain how you would write a job description.
The most important product of job analysis is the job description.
A job description is a written statement of what the worker actually does, how he/she does it, and what the
job’s working conditions are. This information is used to write job specifications; this information lists the
knowledge, abilities, and skills required to perform the job satisfactorily.
Most job descriptions contain sections that cover the following:
1. Job Identification (contains job title, job grade, date of approval, salary, or pay scale): The FLSA status
section identifies the job as exempt or nonexempt.
2. Job Summary: This should summarize the essence of the job, and include only its major functions or
activities.
3. Responsibilities and Duties: This is at the heart of the job description. This would present a list of the
job’s significant responsibilities and duties.
4. Authority of Incumbent: This identifies the authority span of the job position. This would include
information of the jobholder’s relationship with others, reporting structure position, etc.
5. Standards of Performance: This sets out expectations of the job.
6. Working Conditions: Provides the context of the job position (outdoors, indoors, etc.)
7. Job Specification
Another way to view job titles and duties is to just use social media like LinkedIn. Using O*Net is another
source to find information on job descriptions.
18. In this slide, we see a partial sample of a Job Description document. This document was obtained from Pearson
Education.

19. Employers must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the ADA, the individual must have the
requisite skills, educational background, and experience to perform the job’s essential functions. The EEOC says,
“essential functions are the basic job duties that an employee must be able to perform, with or without reasonable
accommodation.”

Factors to consider include:

1. Whether the position exists to perform that function.
2. The number of other employees available to perform the function.
3. The degree of expertise or skill required to perform the function.
4. Whether employees in the position are actually required to perform the function.
 5. What degree of expertise or skill required to perform that function.
Reasonable accommodations might include:
1. Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices.
2. Job restructuring.
3. Part-Time or modified work schedules.
4. Reassignment to a vacant position.
5. Adjusting or modifying examinations, training materials, or policies.
6. Providing readers and interpreters.
7. Making the workplace readily accessible.
Standards of Performance and Working Conditions lists what the company expects the employee to achieve
for each of the job description’s main duties and responsibilities.
20. LO5: Explain how to write a job specification.
The job specification takes the job description and answers the question, “What human traits and experience
are required to do this job effectively?”
Writing job specifications for trained and experienced employees is relatively straight-forward. The job
specification tends to focus on factors such as length of previous service, quality of relevant training, and
previous job performance. It’s more complex though to write job specifications for jobs being filled with
untrained workers.
Most job specifications simply reflect the educated guesses of people like supervisors and human resource
managers. The basic procedure is to ask, “What does it take in terms of education, intelligence, training, etc.,
to get the job done?”
Basing job specifications on statistical analysis rather than only judgment, is the more defensible approach,
but it’s more difficult. The aim is to determine statistically the relationship between 1) some predictor and 2)
some indicator or criterion of job effectiveness.
Job-requirement matrix is a more complete description of what the worker does and how and why he/she
does it. It clarifies each task’s purpose and each duty’s required knowledge, skills, abilities, and other
characteristics.
The task statement is a written item that shows what the worker does on one particular job task; how the
worker does it; the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes required to do it; and the purpose of the task.
21. LO6: List some human traits and behaviors you would want an employee to bring to a job if employment
engagement is important to doing the job well.

Employee engagement refers to being psychologically involved in, connected to, and committed to getting
one’s job done.
In terms of job specification, the question is, “What desirable traits should someone possess to make it more
likely that he or she will turn into an engaged employee?’
With the growing importance of employee engagement, many employers today are appointing special
employee engagement managers, with titles such as Employee Engagement Manager or Director of Employee
Engagement. HR personnel and managers have created the company’s goals to include employee engagement
and it is included in the job descriptions by designing activities that are engaging. The textbook shows an
example of an Employee Engagement Manager Job Description.
22. LO7: Explain how to write competency-based models.
Competency-based job analysis involves describing the job in terms of measurable, observable, and behavioral
competencies (knowledge, skills, and/or behaviors that an employee doing that job must exhibit to do the job
well.)
While a majority of companies still use job descriptions, many are using a newer approach such as competency
models or profiles—the knowledge and skills someone needs to do the job.
The aim of compiling such models is to summarize what “competencies” some require for exceptional
performance, specifically skills, behavior, knowledge, and/or experience.
23. In this slide, we see an example of a competency model/job profile for a Human Resource Manager.
24. Identifying the job’s required competencies is similar to traditional job analysis. Interviews with job incumbents and
supervisors ask open-ended questions regarding job responsibilities and activities.

Statements like this might be asked: “In order to perform this job competently, the employee should be able
to…”
Ideally, the competency statement will include three elements—the name and brief description; description of
the observable behaviors; and proficiency levels.
For example, for a project manager:
Proficiency level 1: Identifies project risks and dependencies and communicates routinely to stakeholders
Proficiency level 2: Develops systems to monitor risks and dependencies and report changes
Proficiency level 3: Anticipates changing conditions and impact to risks and dependencies and takes
preventative action
Proficiency level 4: Proactively identifies implications of related internal and external business conditions to
risks and dependencies
 5 section
5.This image illustrates the steps in the recruitment and selection process. First, the employer will analyze the
company’s needs with employment planning and forecasting results. Then, a pool of candidates will be found
through various ways. Next, applicants will apply to slated positions. Selection tools are then used to screen
out unqualified candidates and pool the candidates that most fit the job positions. Next, the interviews will
take place and the final choice from the candidates will be chosen. This model demonstrates the basic steps in
bringing in employees; however, many processes and tools are used throughout this process in choosing the
best candidate from the applicant pool.
6. This is an example of a workforce planning system, typical of what Towers Watson consulting firm would use in
analyzing the client’s business plan and workforce data. This type of analysis will help with projections and to better
understand business plan changes that influence headcount and skills requirements within jobs. Systems like this help
with what is called succession planning. Succession planning is the ongoing process of systematically identifying,
assessing, and developing organizational leadership to enhance performance.

7. The workforce and employment planning is best thought of as an outgrowth of the firm’s strategic and business
planning process. Plans to enter a new business, build a new plant, or reduce activities all influence the number of and
types of positions to be filled. Many strategic questions are asked first, about what the company will be doing over the
next year, two years, five years, etc. In turn, all planning in all areas of the firm are decided based on these questions
asked and the analyses done on employment planning decisions.

Supply and demand gaps are analyzed and planned for regarding open positions and available candidates.
Forecasted numbers are then projected.
8. Managers consider several factors when forecasting personnel needs. From a practical point of view, the demand for
the product or service is paramount. Thus, in manufacturing firms, sales are projected first. Then the volume of
production needed to meet sales requirements is determined. Finally, the staff needed to maintain this volume of
output is estimated.

Staffing needs reflect demand for its products or services, adjusted for changes the firm plans to make in its
strategic goals and for changes in its turnover rate and productivity.
Trend analysis is the study of a firm’s past employment needs over a period of years to predict future needs.
Trend analysis provides an initial rough estimate of future staffing needs.
Ratio analysis is a forecasting technique for determining future staff needs by using ratios between, for
example, sales volume and number of employees needed. Ratio analysis assumes that things like productivity
remain about the same. If sales productivity were to rise or fall, the ratio of sales to salespeople would change.
Scatter plot is a graphical method used to help identify the relationship between two variables. In forecasts of
business activity (like sales), you should also be able to estimate your personnel needs.
9. As an example of forecasting personnel for a hospital in determining how many registered nurses (RNs) are needed,
we look at the number of beds occupied to see how many RNs are needed.

The relationship between hospital size (number of beds) and number of nurses required is what human
resources personnel know is needed for projected needs of registered nurses.
On the left we see a table stating the number of beds corresponding with number of registered nurses
needed. This data could, for example, be from determining what other hospitals have on staff in relation to
their personnel.
On the right, the scatter plot, shows the comparison of hospital size and number of nurses. When there is a
relationship, a line will tend to fall within the data points. These graphs are helpful, but do have their
drawbacks:
1) Historical sales/personnel relationships assume that the firm’s existing activities and skill needs will
continue as is.
2) They tend to reward managers for adding employees, irrespective of the company’s needs.
3) They tend to institutionalize existing ways of doing things, even in the face of change.
10. Computerized forecasts enable managers to build more variables into their personnel projections. Computerized
systems and Excel spreadsheets quickly translate estimates of projected productivity and sales levels into forecastable
personnel requirements. Store traffic and staffing retail stores is one example used in these computerized estimates.

Managerial judgment is also an important phenomenon when predicting staffing needs. Few historical trends,
ratios, or relationships will continue unchanged into the future. Judgment is then needed to modify the
forecast. Important factors that may modify your initial forecast of personnel requirements include decisions
to upgrade quality or to enter into new markets.
11. Organizations also need to know the forecast for the supply of personnel inside as well as candidates outside.
This graph depicts an example flow of a management replacement chart showing development needs of
potential future divisional vice presidents.
Personnel replacement charts, as shown here, are company records showing present performance and
promotability of inside candidates for the most important positions. This graph shows the present
performance and promotability for each position’s potential replacement. As an alternative, you can develop a
position replacement card. For this, you create a card for each position, showing possible replacements as well
as their present performance, promotion potential, and training.
A position replacement card is a card prepared for each position in a company to show possible replacement
candidates and their qualifications.
12. The employer should control the personal data stored in the organization’s data banks, and all managers must be
vigilant about protecting employees’ privacy, for several reasons.

In this slide, we see guidelines in how to secure company data. This is taken from a security company that is a
co-founder of ITRC. Let’s look at some of the tips on securing employment data.
13. Forecasting what the workforce availability will be depends first on the manager’s own sense of what’s happening in
his or her industry and locale.
With more jobs being technology-based, many applicants will lack the necessary skills such as in math and
teamwork; the manager will therefore have to factor such things as training and development into the
workforce plan.
The best talent management practice requires paying continuous attention to workforce planning issues.
Managers call this predictive workforce monitoring. Many organizations conduct semiannual organizational
capabilities assessments (such as Intel). The staffing department works with the firm’s business heads twice a
year to assess workforce needs—both immediate and up to two years in the future.
14. LO2: Answer the question: “Why is effective recruiting important?”
Employment recruiting is finding and/or attracting applicants for the employer’s open positions.
Recruiting is important. Using skilled techniques to screen out all but the best is essential to organizational
success.
However, effective recruiting is not easy. First, some recruiting methods are superior to others. Second,
recruiting depends on nonrecruitment issues such as pay scales. Third, employment law prescribes what you
can do.
We’ll continue to look at some recruitment methods in this chapter.
15. The recruiting yield pyramid is the historical arithmetic relationships between recruitment leads and invitees,
invitees and interviews, interviews and offers made, and offers made and offers accepted. Filling even a few positions
might require recruiting dozens or hundreds of candidates.

The quality of the firm’s recruiting process had a big impact on what candidates thought of the firm. Many
candidates have stated that the recruiter was the reason many were impressed with the job and company.
Having qualified and effective recruiters are essential to the recruitment process.
Employers should build its brand or reputation amongst potential applicants. The branding often focuses on
what it’s like to work at the company, including company values, and the work environment the employer
fosters. People who desire to have a positive and significant impact through their work are much more
possibly influenced by recruitment messages communicating strong values.
Numerous federal, state, and local laws and court decisions restrict what employers can and cannot do when
recruiting job applicants. The key question in all recruitment procedures is whether the method limits
qualified applicants from applying.
The line and supervisor’s roles are very important and essential. Because these people understand the
position and what’s entailed, they should be included in the recruitment process.
16. LO3: Name and describe the main internal sources of candidates.
Internal sources of candidates is what many companies will first utilize. Filling open positions with inside
candidates has several advantages. First, there is no substitute for already knowing the candidate’s strengths
and weaknesses. Morale and engagement may rise if employees see their colleagues promoted for loyalty and
competence.
Job postings are the most typical way to source internal candidates. Job posting is publicizing an open job to
employees (often by literally posting it on bulletin boards) and listing its attributes, like qualifications,
supervisor, working schedule, and pay rate.
Qualification skills inventories may reveal employees who have potential for further training, or who have the
right background for the open job. Examining personnel records is also another way to source candidates.
17. LO4: Discuss a workforce planning method you would use to improve employee engagement.
Internal recruitment and promotion from within is usually the first steps in filling job openings. It seems
reasonable that employees tend to be committed to firms that are committed to them. Promotions from
within are what many companies do to ensure they maintain their talent. IBM, International Paper, and FedEx
are just some firms committed to developing and promoting their talent from within.
Effective promotion-from-within programs also require providing the training employees need to develop
their promotion potential. It also requires career-oriented appraisals. Here the supervisors and employees
jointly link the latter’s past performance, career preferences, and developmental needs in a formal career
plan.
Posting job openings is a system for accessing career records and guarantees eligible employees are informed
of openings and considered for them.
18. LO5: List and discuss the main sources of outside candidates.
Since employers cannot always get all employees they need from their current staff, they will move to find
candidates outside the company.
Many (or most) job openings aren’t publicized at all; jobs are created and become available when employers
serendipitously come across the right candidates. One author estimates that half of all positions are filled
informally (without formal recruiting). Similarly, one survey found that 28% of those surveyed found their
most recent job through word-of-mouth.
Most employers recruit through their own websites, or use job boards (example companies are displayed in
this slide). CareerBuilder s the largest U.S. job site with over 2 million jobs listed.
Intelligent automated resume screening is another trend. Employers have long used online applicant tracking
software to identify likely candidates based on resume key words and phrases.
19. Recruiting is also shifting from online job boards to social networking sites. In one survey, almost 90% of responding
human resource and recruiting professionals planned to use social media recruiting tools for recruiting managers and
professionals.

LinkedIn Recruiter is one site used by companies in browsing members’ resumes and to find passive
candidates.
Twitter is also used to announce job openings and many companies are employing those means of searching
for candidates.
ResumePal is one recruiting innovation which is an online standard universal job application. Jobseekers
submit it to participating employers, who can then use the standardized application’s key words to identify
viable candidates more easily.
Online recruiting generates more responses quicker and for a longer time at less cost than just about any
other method. But, it has two potential problems.
First, older people and some minorities are still less likely to use the Internet so online recruiting may be
inadvertently excluding disproportionate numbers of older applicants.
The second issue is that employers end up deluged with resumes. Self-screening helps.
20. Applicant tracking systems are online systems that help employers attract, gather, screen, compile, and manage
applicants. Other services such as requisitions management, applicant data collection, and reporting are also used by
companies. Many companies use third party companies to handle such services.

Employers can easily improve their online recruiting results. For example, most firms place employment
information one click away from their home pages. Applicants can submit their resumes online at almost all
Fortune 500 firms’ websites.
Let’s look at the effective Web ad on the next slide. It provides good reasons to work for the company listed.
21. This ad starts with an attention-grabbing heading and uses the extra space to provide more specific job
information. Many employers often include the entire job description. Ideally, the ad should provide a way for
potential applicants to gauge if the job is a good fit
22. While Web-based recruiting is replacing traditional help wanted ads, print ads are still popular.
For specialized employees, advertising occurs in trade and professional journals such as Sales Management
and Women’s Wear Daily.
Experienced advertisers use the guide AIDA to construct ads. Attention, interest, desire, and action are the
strategies to attract candidates.
23. There are three main types of employment agencies: 1) public agencies operated by federal, state, or local
governments; 2) agencies associated with nonprofit organizations; and 3) privately owned agencies.

Agencies are useful and go beyond just filling jobs. Agencies may also provide counselors that will visit an
employer’s work site, review the employer’s job requirements, and even assist the employer in writing job
descriptions.
Most job openings are fee-paid jobs, in which the employers pay the fee. Use one if:
1) Your firm doesn’t have its own human resources department and feels it can’t do a good job recruiting
and screening.
2) You must fill a job quickly.
3) There is a perceived need to attract more minority or female applicants.
4) You want to reach currently employed individuals, who might feel more comfortable dealing with
intermediaries.
5) You want to reduce the time you’re devoting to recruiting.
Employers increasingly supplement their permanent workforces with contingent or temporary workers. In the
recent recession, about 26% of all jobs that private-sector employers added were temporary positions, two to
three times the comparable figures for the last two recessions.
Employers can hire temp workers either through direct hires or through temporary staff agencies. Direct hiring
involves simply hiring workers and placing them on the job. Employers have also used “long-term” temps to fill
in for employees who were out sick or on vacation.
24. Alternative staffing is the use of nontraditional recruitment sources. Many companies use alternative staffing means
for a variety of reasons.

Using contract employees is one such means. Temporary employees (contract workers) are examples of
alternative staffing. Even if companies use contract employees through third-party staffing firms, the
companies are still liable for illegal contract workers. The employer’s liability depends on the degree to which
its supervisors control the temp employee’s activities, so the more the agency does, the better. Many third-
party staffing firms handle the training, and negotiate the salaries or pay rate.
Employers can require staffing agencies to conduct background checks on contract workers. Although many
firms already do this, employers can make that one of the check-list items provided before interviewing a
contract worker.
Other alternative staffing means involve offshoring and outsourcing jobs. Rather than bringing people in to do
the company’s jobs, outsourcing and offshoring have become common place for many firms. Outsourcing
means having an outside vendor supply services that the company’s own employees previously did in-house.
Offshoring means having outside vendors or employees abroad supply services that the company’s own
employees previously did in-house.
Doing this can be problematic, such as cultural misunderstandings. However, rising wages in Asia, coupled
with reputational issues and a desire to invest more in local communities, is prompting employers to bring
jobs back.
25. Many firms will use executive recruiters also known as “headhunters” in order to find executive candidates which
can be more challenging to find. One of the bigger issues is ensuring that the recruiter really understands your needs
and then delivers properly vetted candidates.

In this slide, we see some guidelines when working with executive recruiters.
However, many larger companies such as GE and PepsiCo have their own internal recruiting offices that
handle all of the recruitment needs. In many ways, this counters the problems that may arise when using
executive “headhunter” recruiting firms.
26. Employee referrals are an essential recruitment option. Employers will post openings and requests for referrals on
its websites. A referral’s big advantage is that it tends to generate more applicants, more hires, and a higher yield ratio.

Walk-ins are direct applications made at your office and are a big source of applicants. Many employers will
give every walk-in a brief interview, even if only to get information on the applicant in case a position should
open in the future.
On-demand recruiting services are services that provide short-term specialized recruiting to support specific
projects without the expense of retaining traditional search firms.
College recruiting is sending an employer’s representatives to college campuses to prescreen applicants and
create an applicant pool from the graduating class.
27. Internships are becoming very common as a source of recruiting. Internships are a win-win situation. They can help
students hone business skills, learn more about the employer, and discover their career preferences. About 60% of
internships turn into job offers.

Telecommuters do all or most of their work remotely, often from home, using information technology. These
are also becoming common ways in which to fill positions.
Military personnel are an excellent source of potential employees as they have many desirable skills. Many
military programs help soldiers find jobs after leaving military active service. Walmart, for example, has a five-
year program guaranteeing any honorable discharged veteran who left the service in the past year a job.
28. With recruitment costs up, so many managers need to understand ways in which to improve recruitment efforts in
order to save costs and hire desirable employees.

Guidelines to improve a manager’s recruitment effectiveness include:

1) Using sources, particularly referrals.
2) Provide in the ad copious information about the job.
3) Carefully review ads, websites, brochures, on-campus recruiting to make sure the company is
presenting itself well.
4) Provide a realistic picture of the job.
5) Choose recruiters with strong interpersonal skills.
6) Provide specific and complete information in recruitment material.
29. LO6: Explain how to create a more diverse workforce.
Women still face challenges in certain professions, such as engineering. They also fill proportionately fewer
high-level managerial posts, and still earn only 70% of what men earn for similar jobs. Besides recruiting
women for positions that they generally have not been hired for in the past, companies can also attract
women by offering attractive benefits such as workplace flexibility, family planning, and parental care benefits
and by having a zero-tolerance for sexual harassment policy.
Recently, there were almost 10 million single parent families with children under 18 maintained by the
mother, about two-thirds of whom were employed. Making the workplace friendly is one strategy to attract
single-parents. Surveys suggest that a supportive supervisor can go far towards making the single parent’s
work-home balance more bearable.
The fastest labor force segment is those from 45 to 64 years old. Providing flexible schedules is one way to
attract older workers. Also, providing part-time opportunities and full-time benefits are other ways in which to
attract older workers.
Understanding the barriers that prevent minorities from applying is the first step to correct and then attract
minorities. Remedial training, flexible work options, role models, and redesigned jobs are just some ways in
which to attract minority workers.
Employers can do several things to tap the huge potential workforce of the disabled. The Labor’s Office of
Disability Employment Policy offers several programs including one that helps link disabled college
undergraduates who are looking for summer internships with potential employers.
30. LO7: Discuss the main issues to address in developing application forms.
Application forms are forms used by employers to compile information regarding an applicant’s identity and
educational, military, and work history.
Applications can provide information that allows judgments on substantive matters such as education and
experience. Conclusions about work stability can also be seen in information that the application provides.
Additionally, applications may predict which candidates will succeed on the job. Past behavior is a predictor of
future behavior and much can be gleaned from application information.
31. The application form should comply with equal employment laws. Questions concerning race, religion, age, sex, or
national origin are generally not illegal per se under federal law., but are under certain state laws. Items to be cautious
of include:

Education
Arrest record
Notify in case of emergency
Membership in organizations
Physical handicaps
Marital status
Housing
Video resumes